Stafford couldn't so much as complete a pass in the first quarter of Detroit's 48-17 loss against New York on Monday night. He went on to throw four picks, something he hadn't done since 2013, and one was returned for a touchdown as the Jets put the game out of reach in the third quarter.

The guy who scored that pick-six, linebacker Darron Lee, said after the game he made the play because he knew what was coming based on Detroit's playcalls at the line of scrimmage, including Stafford's hand signals.

"We were calling out their plays as he was getting up to the line," Lee told reporters after the game. "We knew his signals. We knew everything."

That sure seems like something the Lions should investigate. After all, there are much better teams that await on a schedule that looked difficult headed into the season, and now appears daunting. They just might be playing in the best division in football. That division just might have two of the very best defenses.

If Darron Lee and the Jets can eat up Stafford, what do you suppose Khalil Mack and the Bears are going to do? What about the Vikings?

Yet Stafford seemed reluctant to accept that Detroit had tipped plays to the Jets.

"I didn't feel (like we were tipping plays) out there," Stafford said Tuesday during his weekly appearance on Fox2. "Obviously whenever you win a football game, you can kind of say whatever you like. You have a night on defense like they had, it probably felt pretty good, and rightfully so. I understand that. But we'll just move forward."

Even if Stafford doesn't believe plays were tipped, the results speak for themselves. The Lions managed minus-2 yards during a disastrous first quarter. They picked up just one first down -- via penalty -- and held the ball for fewer than 2 minutes in the frame.

By game's end, Stafford had completed 27 of his 46 passes for 286 yards, one touchdown and the four picks. His passer rating of 47.9 was a low since Dec. 16, 2012.

And when the Lions did try to go to the ground, they averaged just 2.8 yards a pop and finished with 39 yards overall, both league lows in Week 1.

Obviously, the Jets were all over everything the Lions were trying to do, run or pass. So even if the Jets weren't picking up plays, despite what they've said to the contrary, they always seemed prepared for exactly what was coming. And that's still a problem.

But coach Matt Patricia joined his quarterback in downplaying the possibility of tipped plays, focusing instead on a lack of execution.

"There are a lot of things that go on in the games that are identifiable to the players on both sides of the ball through the course of the game, and that happens at times," Patricia said. "Those things come up. There are certainly very specific things that are used in the course of a game where guys do a good job of steering things or studying things and seeing stuff at that standpoint. We try to do the best we can to keep it moving on both sides of the ball. We certainly have the same situation from our side, we study opponents the same as everybody else does and you kind of group things into categories based on schemes and systems. And that's really important to understand.

"If you do that, sometimes that's helpful and sometimes it's not."

Despite Detroit's best efforts to downplay the idea they're tipping plays, or that Jim Bob Cooter's offense is predictable, it's obvious that whatever happened Monday night did certainly help the Jets.And Detroit had better take actions this week to better disguise its playcalls. You know, just in case the Jets weren't lying about it.

"We knew everything," Lee said. "That's just preparation as a defense. ... It seemed like we were in (Stafford's) head as a defense."

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